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Longmont police: Suspect in fatal hit and run did not report prior accident

By Pierrette J. ShieldsLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
01/14/2013 05:06:37 PM MST

Updated:
01/14/2013 05:42:29 PM MST

LONGMONT -- An 18-year-old woman suspected in a New Year's Eve hit and run that killed a 16-year-old Denver boy told the Times-Call last week that she did not hit the boy and that damage on her car that police attribute to the wreck was caused in an earlier accident.

Kendra Balentine said last week that her car was damaged on Dec. 30 when she lost control of her car in icy conditions and slid into a parked car.

Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said on Monday that investigators found the victim's report of the accident and learned that Balentine did not make a report. Satur also said that the victim did not find a note claiming responsibility for the damage, which was minimal.

An emotional Kendra Balentine is seen during an interview, Friday, Jan.11, 2013, at the Messiahville Baptist Church in Longmont. (Matthew Jonas/Times-Call)
(
Matthew Jonas
)

"We have since taken an accident report on that," he said, adding that damage on Balentine's car matches damage on the other vehicle, but that the Dec. 30 accident does not account for all of the damage on the car.

Police arrested Balentine on Jan. 3 on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident involving death. Investigators believe she struck Jason Grimmer, 16, on the 2200 block of Main Street just after 10 p.m. New Year's Eve as the boy fled from a fight between two groups of men. The fight apparently started shortly after police left the scene of a report that a group of white boys and men had used racially charged language toward a black man, who initially declined to press charges. Investigators believe that after the officers left the black man called in friends, who arrived within minutes, leading to a fight with the group of white men and boys.

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Balentine is related to some of the men who responded to the calls for help and police suspect she also received a call or text for assistance.

However, Balentine said she was at the Messiahville Baptist Church at the time the boy was struck and her pastor, family and others in attendance have vouched for her whereabouts, if not her car's.

According to police, only Balentine and her mother, Stephanie, have keys to the car and Stephanie Balentine is not a suspect in the crash. Police report that there is damage and biological evidence on the car connecting it to Grimmer's death. DNA samples collected from the car were sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for lab testing, which can take weeks or months to complete because of backlogs at the lab.

Satur said investigators are stilling looking into Balentine's alibi, but that it conflicts with another witness statement that investigators obtained earlier in the investigation. He declined to offer details.

"Our initial investigation led us to believe one thing, and we're investigating all of the information," he said. "At this point we are not in a position to put out all the information that we have ... we're subject to rules and policies."

Balentine was formally charged on Jan. 8 and is out of jail on a $50,000 bond awaiting her February preliminary hearing on the third-degree felony.

No one has been arrested in the fight. Satur said the hit and run is the priority for detectives, who will move on to the fight itself once the hit-and-run investigation has concluded.

Stephanie Balentine said Monday that the family could not offer further comment on the advice of Kendra Balentine's public defender.

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